I am fairly new to Ketogenic diet lifestyle change. But I am ALL IN. I believe my body deserves to be enjoyed as God created it to be, and Ketogenic is the vehicle to get me there. I have regular visits with my doctor and am also seeing a certified nutritionist who is assisting me with reducing my blood pressure, so I can get off of my blood pressure medication. This is my goal by the end of 2018. I have lost 10 pounds and have 30 to go for my goal. Recently, the last two weeks, I have had heart palpitations. I have gone to Dr. and they’ve taken me off of Diuretic so far. I have no other symptoms. I have a followup in less than a week to check Blood Pressure and am keeping track of everything I put in my mouth. Also keeping track of Blood Pressure and heart rate. Everything is recording normal, but still having heart palps. Is there something I may be missing?
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Obviously not a cardiologist but I would search relevant threads because there is a lot of discussion of blood pressure and palpitations all the way to atrial fibrillation. The majority of which seems very amenable to the positive effects of keto so unless you have a genetic or physiological abnormality you should be able to make serious progress. Here is a basic search with lots to chew on.
https://www.ketogenicforums.com/search?q=heart%20palpitations
I would say that from what I’ve read (and experienced) high blood pressure is typically self-correcting by the impacts of the WoE. Palpitations may be caused by the WoE only in as much as electrolyte levels and balances become more important in a diuretic diet like keto. Combining keto with a diuretic pill sounds like it is asking for trouble so you are probably well advised to get off it as you mentioned.
Electrolytes, especially magnesium, have a huge impact on heart regulation so read up on others’ experiences but I’d focus on electrolyte supplementation (keto-ade/keto-aid) since it has worked for palpitations coming after starting keto.
Other things to check are hydration (drink to thirst seems to be the consensus), and caffeine (too much coffee, soda?).
Good luck, KCKO… and let us know what you try and how it works.
As Bob says, electrolytes are key. Muscle cramping and heart palpitations are usually a sign of low electrolytes.
We need much more salt in our diet when keto, because the kidneys become much better at excreting sodium once we’re no longer eating carbs. Eat a bit of extra salt, and learn to make your own bone broth (it’s dead easy), because it contains not only sodium, but also potassium and magnesium. (Leafy green vegetables are another good source of bioavailable magnesium.)
If you increase your electrolyte intake and the palpitations don’t go away within a day or two, get to the doctor and get checked out.